The public interconnected computer networks—commonly called the Internet and colloquially called the web—have made possible a number of applications that were hitherto unthinkable. In general, a user visits web pages using a browser program executing on a client computer. When the user visits a web page, a document such as a news article, a downloadable file such as an e-book, downloadable software programs such as those available at www.shareware.com, a piece of music, a graphical image or other such object that is of interest, it may be a case that the user prefers to read or refer to the object at a later date. Currently the user has several choices—he can print the web page, download the page to his client computer, or make a book mark to enable an easy return to the web site for reference at a later date. But there are problems with each of these methods.
Printing every web page that is of interest quickly becomes unmanageable. A product called SurfSaver™ is a browser add-on, which lets a user to store Web pages directly from the browser into searchable folders on the user's client computer. While SurfSaver™ can be used to organize and search the information the user gathers on the Internet, it requires the user to download software to the client computer and create an information store for web pages downloaded to the client computer. But such downloading of web pages, documents, or files may consume significant resources on the client computer, and these downloaded web pages or files may not be readily available in a form that can be shared by others.
Book marking the web page or the location is a better solution than the above two methods. A typical bookmark comprises a location or address, usually specified in a Universal Resource Locator format, and a mnemonic so that the user remembers what information is stored at the location. In general, the browser program stores bookmarks in a special “book mark” file on the client computer. The location of this bookmark file is typically known to the browser, which loads the contents of the file and presents the bookmarks to the user when he makes an appropriate selection on the browser. Examples of such book marking methods are found in the commercially available browser programs such as Internet Explorer™, in which program the bookmarks are called “Favorites.”
Often, it is the case that either the bookmarks are too many or they become “stale.” Bookmarks become stale when a site to which the bookmark points no longer hosts the web page addressed by the bookmark. The user, who depended on the availability of the information online, is now left with a bookmark that does not point to useful data.
Additionally, sharing information with others either in a controlled manner or with a widespread audience is becoming an increasing need. Sharing information that is restricted as to the number of copies that can be made without infringing an author's or a publisher's rights is becoming important. There is a need, therefore, for a method and system to improve the state of the art to address these and other issues.